Piña Colada Cupcakes

The weather has finally gotten warm (thank the Lord - I thought I was going to die if it snowed one more time).  I'm a bad driver in the best conditions, so throw in snow and it's basically a death trap.  ANYWAY...in celebration of the warm weather, I made piña colada cupcakes because it's obviously going to be summer soon.  I'm very excited because it means I'll be done with nursing school for several months and will once again have time to actually enjoy life (I hope).  Heeeeere we go!

Cupcakes
3/4 cup of butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp cream of coconut or Malibu rum
2/3 cup crushed pineapple (in water, not in syrup!)
1 1/4 cups of flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin.  Chill a large bowl and whisk (or beaters if you use a hand mixer) in the freezer.  Beat together sugar and butter until smooth and creamy.  Add the eggs, vanilla, cream of coconut (or Malibu) and pineapple (with the liquid - don't drain it) to the butter mixture and beat well until combined.  Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then gradually add them, beating until just combined after each addition.  Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 of the way full, then bake 22-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Coconut Filling (AKA heaven I eat with a spoon)
1 cup whipping cream
2 1/2 tbs sweetened shredded coconut

Remove the bowl and beaters from the freezer, and pour the whipping cream in.  Beat it until it resembles whipped cream, then fold in the coconut.  Refrigerate until ready to use.  Prepare to make a double batch because you might eat a lot of it with a spoon.

Frosting
1 1/4 cups of butter
3 cups powdered sugar (depending on your desired consistency)
5 tbs Malibu or piña colada mix (do NOT use cream of coconut for this or it will destroy the consistency of the frosting)

Mix together butter and 2 cups of powdered sugar.  Add the Malibu or piña colada mix and beat well.  Continue GRADUALLY adding the remainder of the powdered sugar until it reaches the desired consistency

To decorate, core the cupcakes and add the delicious delicious coconut filling to the middle of the cupcakes.  Frost them, then sprinkle with a little extra coconut (unless you hate coconut, in which case you shouldn't be making these cupcakes anyway).  I topped mine off with little umbrellas, a bit of pineapple, and a maraschino cherry, but I like to consider myself an overachiever.